2005 Volnay Village

Dominique Lafon picked his chardonnay early, then stopped for four days and started harvesting the pinot noir on September 25. He told me he got better ripeness but not more rot as a result of waiting, but admitted that there was "a bit of work to do" on the sorting table for the Auxey-Duresses. He did less pigeage for his Auxey-Duresses and Volnay villages as he was more concerned with getting fruit than structure. Not surprisingly, Lafon's 2005 Volnay Santenots is one of the most impressive Cote de Beaune reds of this very strong vintage. Lafon described it as the best red wine he's ever made, and it's hard to disagree with that assessment. (Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; a Daniel Johnnes Selection, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY)

I practically had to walk to my visit here on a Saturday afternoon due to a half-marathon that had the streets blocked and the village of Meursault virtually cut off from the outside world (no one noticed) for a few hours. Fortunately, neither Dominique Lafon nor I were among the runners. Lafon continues to do less and less pigeage, as he's looking for a longer and softer maceration in search of more refined tannins. The malos went very slowly in 2005, and Lafon had moved some of the wine that had not yet finished its secondary fermentation into tank. But even the lots that had finished showed brisk acidity and sharp detail. Lafon told me that his 2005s have "almost the acidity of 1996 but with more fruit and more roundness." That would appear to be a perfect formula for slowly evolving, long-lived and complex wines. Although Lafon picked his chardonnay early-a good idea, by the way-he said his harvest dates for pinot noir were about average for Volnay. (Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA; a Daniel Johnnes Selection, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY)